#charity

The ideological blackmail that has been in place since the original Live Aid concerts in 1985 has insisted that ‘caring individuals’ could end famine directly, without the need for any kind of political solution or systemic reorganization. It is necessary to act straight away, we were told; politics has to be suspended in the name of ethical immediacy. Bono’s Product Red brand wanted to dispense even with the philanthropic intermediary. ‘Philanthropy is like hippy music, holding hands’, Bono proclaimed. ‘Red is more like punk rock, hip hop, this should feel like hard commerce’. The point was not to offer an alternative to capitalism - on the contrary, Product Red’s ‘punk rock’ or ‘hip hop’ character consisted in its ‘realistic’ acceptance that capitalism is the only game in town. No, the aim was only to ensure that some of the proceeds of particular transactions went to good causes. The fantasy being that western consumerism, far from being intrinsically implicated in systemic global inequalities, could itself solve them. All we have to do is buy the right products. ↗

— Mark Fisher

#capitalism #capitalist-realism #charity #consumerism #cultural-capitalism

To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#charity #public-service #volunteerism #service

My argument is that charity does indeed start at home, but it doesn't stop there. ↗

— Andrew Mitchell

#charity #does #home #indeed #start

I beg people not to accept the seasonal ritual of well-timed charity on Christmas Eve. It's blasphemy. ↗

— Jonathan Kozol

#beg #blasphemy #charity #christmas #christmas eve

I have a friend who lives in the South Side of Chicago. I helped out at a church charity there where they try to give a bit of cohesion to a desperate area. Everyone was very welcoming. ↗

— Sara Paretsky

#bit #charity #chicago #church #cohesion

Today, our actions must be motivated only by our intense desire to achieve a just and lasting peace. The compassion and charity of the American people should be reflected in this legislation, though sadly, they are silenced. ↗

— Nick Rahall

#actions #american #american people #charity #compassion

People who identify themselves as conservatives donate money to charity more often than people who identify themselves as liberals. They donate more money and a higher percentage of their incomes. ↗

— Thomas Sowell

#conservatives #donate #higher #identify #incomes

It's very difficult to ignore humanitarian disasters. The royalties from my albums continue to support my charity work. ↗

— Cat Stevens

#charity #charity work #continue #difficult #disasters

When faith and hope fail, as they do sometimes, we must try charity, which is love in action. We must speculate no more on our duty, but simply do it. When we have done it, however blindly, perhaps Heaven will show us why. ↗

— Dinah Maria Mulock

#blindly #charity #done #duty #fail

Once you go on welfare it changes you. Even if you get off welfare, you never escape the stigma that you were a charity case. You're scarred for life. ↗

— Jeannette Walls

#life #state-benefits #welfare #change